Month: October 2015

GTD Quadrant Flowchart

From time to time I take a close look at my workflow to see if I can improve it in any way. Incorporate new tools, processes, or ideas—or remove things that don’t work or cause more noise than signal.

I’d like to share a productivity hack that’s worked well for me recently when trying to decide what to work on each day. Faced with a full plate of tasks, requests, emails, and interruptions—which should I tackle first?

I apply a few simple questions to each email, task, or incoming ping—things I might need to work on next. The questions are:

  1. Do I have to do it?
  2. Do I want to do it?
  3. Is it urgent for today?
  4. Can someone else do it?

Here’s my version of a decision tree that combines the questions and answers.

GTD Quadrant Flowchart by Lance Willett

I’m inspired by similar grids and charts that you might have seen. There are several variations of these “getting things done” (GTD) decision trees and quadrant matrices.

1. David Allen’s GTD philosophies, illustrated in this flowchart:

Screen Shot 2015-10-06 at 14.35.31

2. The Eisenhower Matrix (see also this Todoist implementation):

Screen Shot 2015-10-06 at 14.38.15

3. Stephen Covey’s “time management matrix” which uses quadrants to rank task in a two-by-two matrix based on importance and urgency.

stephen-covey
4. A “want to do/have to do” prioritization method using a two-by-two matrix. (I don’t know where this comes from; anyone know the source?)

Processed with VSCOcam with b3 preset

A few notes about my flowchart graphic [direct download in PNG format, 224 KB].

  • I use @ notation for email labels to determine both status and type of action needed: @action, @reply, and @read/review, etc.
  • The “Soon / Later” items at the bottom right—those logged for later—do become things to start with again once they come up in review. In my workflow, I repeat the flowchart decisions for each item during weekly and monthly review.
  • “Quick wins” aren’t mapped here; they are tasks that don’t take much time and are easy to complete. You can shortcut the flowchart from “Not urgent for today” to “Do it now” for these quick ones.

Sweet! Now I can mark as done posting this to my blog.

Book Review: Quiet

I’d like to share my thoughts on the book Quiet, The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking.

Quiet-Jacket

I thoroughly enjoyed this treatise of introverts versus extroverts. Filled with personal anecdotes as well as pertinent research and scientific theory, the book tells the story of introverted people and their quiet power.

My main takeaway is the idea of sensitivities—both externally and internally  focused—and how they motivate, describe, and prescribe our interactions with the world and other people.

Reward-sensitivity, as described in the book as a sign of extroversion, is something I can relate to. Pleasure seeking and excitement overrules your better judgement; I am impulsive at times and do things for immediate satisfaction. I need to learn the lesson from quieter spirits who pause for important feedback in order to be able to learn from it. Sometimes worrying about consequences and long-term results can lead to a better decision.

Cain also tells of people who are rejection sensitive being warm and loving when they feel secure, yet hostile and controlling when they feel rejected. Food for thought, at what point does controlling our behavior become futile or exhausting?

Introverts like people they meet in friendly contexts, extroverts prefer those they compete with.

This was a poignant reminder for me—I tend to both sides of the spectrum depending on the context, and it’s a good practice to look closely at my motivations and see how I’m acting. Is it appropriate? Out of touch?

I can relate to both reward sensitivity and rejection sensitivity. I feel like sometimes I’m critical of other people because I’m nervous that they’ll be critical of me. As a better way, I should be careful not to point out their mistakes and instead find gentler ways to communicate it. Or, just let it go and no longer try to be right but try to be happy.

Sometimes it pays to be quiet and gracious, to listen more than talk and you have an instinct for harmony rather than conflict. With this style you can take aggressive positions without inflaming your counterpart’s ego.

…by listening you can learn what’s truly motivating the person you’re negotiating with and come up with creative solutions to satisfy both parties.

Another idea described in the book is that of “free traits”—if something’s important to you, such as a service of love or a professional calling—you can put on the extroversion when you need it, and it isn’t fake because you’re being true to something that you love.

I absolutely loved the conclusion, titled “Wonderland”—it is inspiring and sums up the book nicely. I printed it out… To see what I mean, you’ll have to read the book.

I borrowed Quiet for a first read; I’ll be buying my own copy to dive into it again.